Travels Begin

After a year in the planning I am off today on a three week study trip to Canada and the USA. With the benefit of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship I have this wonderful opportunity to travel to various parts of the world to explore care for people with dementia and in particular how their dignity and quality of life can be sustained through storytelling. I am going to be looking at the oral tradition in indigenous cultures to see what this can teach us about the way we help older people to maintain their status in society.

Already in Somerset Care we are helping some of the older people we support to use modern technology to create digital stories about their lives as part of our "Tell Your Story" project. The way I see it we are helping people to retain their memories by downloading them onto DVDs and keeping their life stories alive for them and for younger generations. By working with young people who are good with computers and new media technology and getting them to assist elderly friends and relations to record their stories we can also help to connect generations. We are currently undertaking a project with Media Studies students from Bridgwater College. They are working with some of the residents of our care homes to create digital stories.

So I am sitting with a coffee in the magnificent Terminal 5 at Heathrow, waiting for my flight to Toronto. I hope to be blogging as I go on this trip so I hope that, through the wonders of the blogosphere and my iPad, you will come along with me by keeping an eye on my progress.


The fountains at Terminal 5. A good start!


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